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Headlines 13 UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND Dr Akshata Anchan $4,500 2023 SNO/ASCO CNS Cancer Conference in San Francisco, California Associate Professor Scott Graham $4,500 European Association of Cancer Research (EACR) annual congress in Torino, Italy, and Cerebral Vascular Biology (CVB) meetings in Uppsala, Sweden Dr Natalia Simonov $4,500 Pregnancy and Birth Cohorts pre-conference and 56th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Developmental Psychobiology in Utrecht, Netherlands Professor Trecia Wouldes $4,500 World Association of Infant Mental Health Congress in Dublin, Ireland Dr Rachael Sumner $4,479 University of Exeter, England, Cardiff University, Wales and Uppsala University, Sweden Dr Victor Dieriks $3,221 Neurodegeneration: New Biology Guiding the Next Generation of Therapeutic Development Conference in Whistler, Canada & 2023 Australasian Winter Conference on Brain Research in Queenstown, New Zealand Dr Peter Freestone $2,868 International Basal Ganglia Society (IBAGS) conference in Stockholm, Sweden Dr Lola Mugisho $1,058 2023 Queenstown Research Week in Queenstown, New Zealand Ms Ashleigh O'Mara Baker $662 Royal Society of New Zealand Early Career Researcher Conference in Wellington, New Zealand ST VINCENT'S CENTRE FOR APPLIED MEDICAL RESEARCH, SYDNEY Dr Zoe Dyer $4,005 European Committee for Treatment and Research in MS Meeting (ECTRIMS) in Milan, Italy More detailed descriptions of projects funded in grant round 2023A can be found at: neurological.org.nz/research/funded-projects/ THE COOLHEAD STUDY Led by emerging stroke expert A cooling cap that uses technology developed by NASA will soon be trialled in Auckland in an effort to improve outcomes for Kiwi stroke patients. S tarting next year, 40 patients will have their heads cooled while undergoing emergency clot retrieval procedures. Lowering patients’ brain temperature during treatment could slow brain damage and make a positive difference in people’s recovery. The trial is being led by Dr Will Diprose, an early career clinician scientist at the University of Auckland, alongside Professor Alan Barber, the Neurological Foundation Chair of Clinical Neurology. The $103,248 feasibility and safety study will be overseen by a senior nurse, and Dr Diprose will be responsible for the technical aspects and analysis. It will also involve specialist anaesthetist Dr Douglas Campbell and Associate Professor of Stroke and Interventional Neurology, Mohammed Almekhlafi. Dr Diprose is currently in Canada, perfecting his skills in thrombectomy (clot-retrieval surgery) at a world-renowned stroke centre in Calgary. "Thrombectomy has only been part of standard stroke treatment since 2015, so previous international cooling trials are not reflective of current practice," says Will. “The three things we’re testing in this trial are that it’s feasible to use the cooling cap in an emergency setting, that it’s tolerable to the patient, and that there are no safety concerns,” he says. The aim is to slow the progress of the stroke before and during clot retrieval.